Value of foreign holdings rises by €86bn

The value of Irish residents’ foreign securities rose by €86 billion by the end of 2009, the Central Statistics Office said today.

Investment in foreign holdings amounted to more than €1.25 trillion last year, compared to €1.165 trillion in 2008.

Most of the increase was accounted for by the recovery of the global stock markets, with equity assets accounting for 30 per cent of the total.

Some 44 per cent of the total stock was in US-issued and UK-issued instruments, a slight fall from the end of 2008.

Overall investment in US securities fell by €1.9 billion as an increase in equity of €17.5 billion was offset by decreases in bonds and notes and money market instruments.

Meanwhile, the value of UK bonds and notes rose to €147.3 billion, but was largely offset by decreased investment in money market instruments. Equity investment increased by €11.7 billion.

Over the year, investment in other euro-area countries increased slightly to 37 per cent of the total, or €462 billion. This includes a rise of €4.4 billion in Italian securities, and an increase to €83.6 billion in investment in French securities.